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Bootstrap wrote:The Lord's Supper was held on the Lord's Day by the Lord's people (or the Lord's house, if you think of the church as a building, I don't). κυριακός.

I just found a good blog post on this subject here, incidentally:

http://www.alanknox.net/2007/07/ekklesia-and-kuriakon/

Bootstrap wrote:

Bootstrap wrote:The Lord's Supper was held on the Lord's Day by the Lord's people (or the Lord's house, if you think of the church as a building, I don't). κυριακός.

I just found a good blog post on this subject here, incidentally:

http://www.alanknox.net/2007/07/ekklesia-and-kuriakon/

This is really good stuff. We could use strong teaching around this area to combat some of the bad influences coming into conservative circles.

Bootstrap wrote:

Neto wrote:I didn't say that it tells us anything about when we SHOULD meet. I didn't say it in these recent posts, but I always maintain that we cannot derive doctrine from narrative.

Exactly.

And personally, I don't particularly want to criticize someone who practices the Jewish Sabbath today. I don't think that's what the early Church did, and I think it can be helpful to understand why. But in this thread, we are not discussing clear New Testament commandments. On either side of the fence.

I'm spending more time on this than I should, but I'll read back over this thread to see how you understand the benefits of not meeting on the Sabbath. I'll readily admit that I tend to look at some things like this from a strategic missions-anthropology standpoint. In this case the question would be "Is it important enough to not observe the Sabbath to risk additional offense of Jewish people who are considering Jesus as their Messiah?" (The 'cross' is supposed to be the offense, not whether the Sabbath is observed in any way).

If I were somewhere witnessing in particular to Jews, I probably would observe the Sabbath in the interest of connecting with them, while also keeping the Lord's Day. Otherwise I will not be observing the Sabbath.

Hats Off wrote:If I were somewhere witnessing in particular to Jews, I probably would observe the Sabbath in the interest of connecting with them, while also keeping the Lord's Day. Otherwise I will not be observing the Sabbath.

I can affirm that Jewish people aren't too concerned about Christians not keeping the Sabbath. They're far more concerned about us not keeping the dietary laws, and also concerned we believe in multiple gods due to our Trinitarian doctrine.

In that case I will correct myself; if I were trying to witness to Jews, I would first find out what is important to them and how best to approach them.

Hats Off wrote:In that case I will correct myself; if I were trying to witness to Jews, I would first find out what is important to them and how best to approach them.

I think it is the same as other people. It's hard to share the gospel through debate or intellectual exercises. The best thing to do is to love God, love our neighbours, and love our brethren in church - that we may be known as Christ's disciples. Then we can let our light shine.

Josh wrote:

Hats Off wrote:In that case I will correct myself; if I were trying to witness to Jews, I would first find out what is important to them and how best to approach them.

I think it is the same as other people. It's hard to share the gospel through debate or intellectual exercises. The best thing to do is to love God, love our neighbours, and love our brethren in church - that we may be known as Christ's disciples. Then we can let our light shine.

Amen.

Where does this delusion come from, the notion that we can intellecually wrestle someone into accepting the Gospel? I have even had people tell me they want to learn Greek so they can be better evangelists. Go find someone who can teach you mature love instead, it's a much better tool for evangelism. Look around you, see whose love you have faith in, and learn from them. It's the one best thing you can do to build the Kingdom of God.

Just want to say, this has been an awesome discussion by all-

Josh wrote:

Hats Off wrote:In that case I will correct myself; if I were trying to witness to Jews, I would first find out what is important to them and how best to approach them.

I think it is the same as other people. It's hard to share the gospel through debate or intellectual exercises. The best thing to do is to love God, love our neighbours, and love our brethren in church - that we may be known as Christ's disciples. Then we can let our light shine.

I'm wondering about this because for the MOST part, I agree- however, when the Apostles were commissioned to take the Gospel to the Gentile/pagan/heathenistic world- they were not able to do the above in the same way that an assembled church can do- it seemed, & I could be mistaken, that there certainly was debate, and 'some' bit of intellectual exercises by some of the Apostles (of course I know in the New Testament we don't read about how ALL the Apostles took the Gospel to other nations) however- there was the 'contending for the faith' and proving Christ, by using the Old Testament, or am I remembering this wrong? I realize they were armed with the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts & miracles that most evangelists do not have to the same degree (although I do hear of them through these 2000 years, even today)